HUGS benefit tops $150,000 to help families with ill kids

All the people involved in the successful HUGS benefit Saturday in the Royal Hawaiian's Monarch Room and its beautiful Waikiki beachfront setting deserve a big hug. HUGS aids families with seriously ill children. The organization, founded by the late Tommy Holmes, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The benefit raised more than $150,000, according to HUGS hard-working director Donna Witsell, and the Holmes Foundation contributed $25,000 of that. Kristian Lei and her husband, Gavin Vinta, sang and acted out Broadway vignettes including "Phantom of the Opera" and "Cabaret." Contributions from Ocean Resource Innovation helped fund the entertainment. Island Insurance was honored for its strong support. Emcee Howard Dashefsky did an excellent job in raising big bucks in the live auction and moving the program along swiftly. Kimo Kahoano gave the blessing in words and in song. The event was chaired by Beth Bowlen Harbottle. Beauty queens Nadine Wise, Nami Okumura, Cassie Sumimoto, Kaili Hussey, Steisha Sheather and Alyssandra Banique stood out in the crowd ...

JAZZ Pianist Betty Loo Taylor will be at Chuck's Cellar in Waikiki Saturday for another session with the Black Sand Trio. She'll bring along singer Jimmy Borges and they are calling it their "38th Anniversary Reunion." Those two are like "Old Man River," they just keep rolling -- make that swinging -- along ...

Former athlete Lionel Brash dies at age 79

Lionel Brash, 79, one of Hawaii's outstanding high school multi-sport athletes in the 1940s, died May 3 after suffering a massive stroke. Lionel was a 1947 graduate of Roosevelt High. He was 6-feet-4 and weighed about 210 pounds in high school and always protected little guys and underclassmen from bullies. Besides starring in football and basketball, he was an avid waterman. He later started on Art Kim's Hawaii All Stars basketball team that traveled with and played against the Harlem Globetrotters as they barnstormed throughout the U.S. Survivors include Lionel's wife, Gladys Joshua Brash, son John Brash, and daughters Rose Bell Gaud, Avis Purcell and Faith "Pixie" Price. Services are scheduled for May 30 at Mililani Mauka Mortuary, 4 to 9 p.m. ...

Ben Wood, who sold the Star-Bulletin in the streets of downtown Honolulu during World War II, writes of people, places and things in our Hawaii. E-mail him at bwood@starbulletin.com